


Turn Your Ear to the Sky

by NamelessDragon



Series: Out of Turn [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attraction, Hurt Loki (Marvel), Hurt Steve Rogers, Mind Control, POV Gamora (Marvel), POV Loki (Marvel), POV Steve Rogers, Pre-Slash, Torture, Uneasy Allies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27597356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelessDragon/pseuds/NamelessDragon
Summary: Steve, Gamora, and Loki have made it to Earth after their escape from Sanctuary and Asgard. The mentally and physically battered trio try to make contact with the relevant authorities on Earth to warn them about Thanos. Well, mostly Steve does. After the attack in New Mexico, SHIELD already has big reasons to be wary of weird aliens. And the aliens are just as wary of SHIELD, especially considering the very important fact that Loki hasn’t told anyone concerning his last dealing with Earth.
Relationships: Gamora & Loki (Marvel), Gamora & Steve Rogers, Loki & Steve Rogers
Series: Out of Turn [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2017859
Comments: 37
Kudos: 81





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lise/gifts).



> This was a whump prompt request from December of _last year_ for Steve & Loki with the phrase “I shouldn’t care for your life, but I’m starting to and it’s becoming an inconvenience.” I decided to turn it into the sequel to _Turn the Noose of War._ Obviously, this fic will make a lot more sense if you read that one, first.
> 
> The _plan_ is to post this semi-regularly, but we'll see how the rest of 2020 goes for me. It shouldn't be more than 4-5 chapters.

Steve used a key card to open the door into the room of the latest hotel and was met with a blast of cold that rushed at him from an overworked air conditioner. He surveyed the interior, frowning as he let the door slowly fall shut behind him.

The curtains were tightly drawn to keep anyone from seeing inside, sunlight dimly spreading across the beige carpet. Loki had taken one of the room’s two beds, and was curled up and pointedly facing away from the door, his slender shoulders hunched up around his ears. Gamora was sitting at a table across with a tourist book, to all appearances engaged with the material within.

When she saw him she shot to her feet, body stiff and eager. The movement was a beat too late for her reaction to be convincingly surprised. “What did you find?”

His gaze flicked towards Loki, who was as still as the dead.

He resisted the urge to sigh; it was clear they’d been fighting again while he was out. About what, Steve had no idea, but he figured there could be about a dozen fair subjects, and a hundred more unfair ones. A coerced torturer and their torture victim wasn’t exactly the dream of all teams. 

At least they could argue and not try to kill each other. So far.

Steve glanced at Gamora’s book again, which boasted that it was the tenth edition of a Mountain Trail Book. She was on a page detailing trail locations of poison oak in their current city. 

Gamora was earnest, and she probably wouldn’t appreciate him teasing her about being concerned about a stationary plant that mostly just caused an unpleasant rash. Even though Steve had grown up knowing that his own reaction to any contact with urushiol would have ended in something a lot more potentially fatal than an annoying case of dermatitis.

He folded his arms. “We’re probably being followed.” He was pretty sure he wasn’t imagining the twitch to Loki’s shoulders as he said that.

“So we should find them and kill them,” Gamora said, her hand going to her sword.

“That’s not how this is going to work,” Steve said. “It could be just normal law enforcement agents doing their job.”

“But you’ve seen the looks they give me,” Gamora said in frustration. “They stare as if I’m an oddity.”

“They thought you were a member of the nearby circus,” Steve said. “Apparently they do shows Thursday through Sunday.”

“How did they dress,” Loki asked. Steve looked at him, surprised, but Loki didn’t bother to turn around.

“The people at the circus?”

“The people _following you._ ”

Steve paused, staring at Loki’s back more intently. “I didn’t get too good a look,” he admitted. “But I think the same black car’s been rounding us since we got into town.”

“There are many land vehicles colored in black,” Gamora pointed out.

Loki finally curled up from the bed, turning and setting his feet on the floor, his hair mussed from the pillow. The marks beneath his eyes looked like they were a deeper shade than they had been the day before. The crystal he carried with him was clutched in his hand, like it normally was. Steve wondered if it was helping him in some way beyond just emotionally, but he could tell Loki got defensive whenever its existence was so much as acknowledged by anyone else. 

“There are people,” Loki said. “They call themselves Agents. They drive black cars and they dress in black. Whenever there is an oddness ongoing, they gather like flies.” He finally looked up at Steve, expression solemn. “If they are gathering now, we can expect many more of them to soon make themselves known.”

“But they’re Americans,” Steve said. 

“Whoever they are, they’ll seek to imprison us,” Loki said. “This is not a guess, Captain Rogers. It is a certainty.”

Steve internally admitted to himself that he’d like to believe that Loki was wrong, but he didn’t exactly have all the facts when it came to the current state of America. Worse than that uncertainty were the emotional urges, wanting to know what had happened to the people he cared about during the years he’d lost. Peggy. 

“We came here to warn them,” Steve reminded him. “Maybe getting them closer is our best shot at having this information make it to the people that need it.”

Loki lowered his eyes, directing his unhappy gaze towards the crystal, the line of his jaw tightening. He didn’t say anything else.

Gamora, on the other hand, seemed to think that was a subject that Loki didn’t deserve to drop. “How do you know about them?” she asked him. “Did you commit crimes on this planet that they’d seek to capture you for?”

“Oh, we’re speaking of _crimes,_ now,” Loki said, the arguing he’d refused to do with Steve more than ready to rear back up when it came to Gamora. He glared at her, cradling the crystal closer to his stomach like he was trying to shield it from her sight. “ _I_ am not the one with a bounty on my head on eighteen different planets.”

Gamora jutted her jaw in furious defense. “I am not asking about other planets,” she said, stepping closer to him as she gestured about the room. “I am asking about _this one._ ”

Loki leaned back from her, his lips pulling back from his teeth before he forced the expression to fade. “No,” he said, voice terse. “No humans have seen me set foot on this planet in hundreds of years.”

That was a carefully chosen set of words. Steve took a step closer to the bed, but not as close as he wanted when he saw Loki stiffen in response, his eyes flicking between Steve and Gamora like they were closing in on him for an attack.

“But you’ve been here,” Steve said, keeping his tone measured.

“Briefly,” Loki said, meeting Steve’s eyes for just a moment. He bent his neck again, hair falling forward and shoulders tight. “We’ve already established this.”

“Any intel is useful,” Steve said encouragingly. “Do you know anything about the organization they would belong to?”

“One keen to hoard and keep secrets,” Loki answered. He ran the bent fingers of one hand over the other; the odd overlap in the digits looked painful, but Steve didn’t know what they could do to safely help that. “They are as magpies with any otherworldly technology they come across.”

That wouldn’t have exactly narrowed it down, even in the 40s. 

“Terra is primitive,” Gamora said. “It would not have drawn the eye of Thanos without knowledge of an Infinity Stone.”

“But Earth’s stayed safe all these years,” Steve said. 

“Yes,” Loki said. He gave an ironic smile. “The planet is under Asgard’s protection.”

That was news. 

He wondered if Thanos had known that, and still been confident enough that Loki would have been enough to take everything down. “Well it’s good to know we have allies out there, too.”

“ _Allies_ suggests a mutual benefit or knowledge of partnership,” Loki said. “It is more that your planet happens to be within the range of Odin’s claimed territory. He does not like to interfere, but he will if he thinks to stand back will ultimately pose a threat to Asgard. And with the Bifrost broken, your planet is now particularly vulnerable.”

“But we got down here from Asgard,” Steve said.

“Through a path that not even Odin would risk his life to cross,” Loki said.

Gamora tightened up at that, growling as she whirled around and went back to her book.

Steve looked between them. “I can go out on my own,” he said. 

Gamora’s posture stayed stiff, but she didn’t protest.

Loki was less reserved. His mangled fingers twitched, curling inwards around the crystal in his palm. “And once they imprison you, they will attempt interrogations. Tortures, to find out that which you know.”

“I’m open to better ideas,” Steve said. “We have to start somewhere. Seems like talking to the people already looking for us would be a good first choice.”

Gamora stared at him. “If they are hunting us, it is better to confront them than to try to run.” Steve could tell she was still thinking a little too aggressively for him to be too overly comforted by her agreeing with his view.

Loki pressed his lips into a thin line, eyes flicking briefly to the hotel room door. “It appears unlikely we will have any other recourse,” he said. “They probably already know exactly where we are.” He dipped his head, slumping his shoulders as he rubbed his thumb over the crystal’s edges. His eyebrows jumped, the corner of his mouth twisting up. “Well, at least they’re unlikely to match my previous captors in skill or cruelty.” 

The look he gave Gamora after saying that wasn’t subtle. She bristled angrily, her hands fisted at her sides. “I’ll come with you,” she said to Steve, beginning to look through her supplies. “If my face draws attention, maybe they will arrive all the more quickly.”

“Yes, let her become their problem, first,” Loki said, voice suddenly bright.

“We can’t be violent,” Steve said, feeling a little like he was trying to herd a pair of aggressive feral cats. “They’re probably just doing their jobs. Ensuring the security of the country. We need to talk before we can do anything else.”

Gamora stared at him for a long moment, before nodding decisively. “We will talk to them,” she agreed. “Even if they seek to harm us, Thanos is a much greater common enemy. If they have any sort of wisdom, they will heed our words before attempting to torture us to death.”

“No one’s getting tortured,” Steve said. Loki made an ugly noise in his throat. “And if anyone tries, we’ll deal with them,” he added.

“Yes,” Gamora said, hand clutched over the hilt of her weapon. “We will.”

Loki’s shoulders heaved. “I am glad that I placed so much effort in ensuring our safe arrival so that we could wait a few more days to throw our lives away.”

Steve decided not to comment on that. “There’s a library down the street,” he said. “I was thinking of checking there next.”

Loki rose from the bed, adjusting his balance on weak legs. “You should stay,” Gamora said, like an order. Predictably, that made Loki’s eyes light with outrage.

“ _You_ should stay, Daughter of Thanos,” he said, picking the title he used when he was feeling particularly vicious. “The excuse of the circus will only take us so far.”

“And you are enfeebled,” Gamora hissed, gesturing up and down at his body. “If we need to act quickly-”

“Okay, stop,” Steve said, and they went quiet. “We can all go. But we do need a plan in case things do go south.” He looked pointedly at Loki - he didn’t look like he was in the best shape, but he’d kept up with them so far. “You got at least some healing done on Asgard. I know you’re strong. I’d like a rundown on your current skills and abilities.”

Loki blinked, then blinked again, his brow creasing. “My skills and abilities.”

“Whatever you can do,” Steve said with a nod. “I know firsthand your arsenal isn’t just physical.”

“He won’t tell us,” Gamora said, still seething.

“He probably wouldn’t tell you when he was a prisoner,” Steve said. “But we’re in this together, now. We can only gain by playing to our strengths. _All_ of our strengths.”

Loki’s surprise was drifting away into something more thoughtful. He took a breath, dipping his head down to stare at the crystal again. He lowered himself back to the bed. “This might take some time.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear,” Steve said.

\----------

They got to the library with a few hours to spare before it closed. A teenage girl questioned Gamora about which brand of body paint and hair dye she used for her costume, but otherwise, no one approached them. 

Loki kept his hands cradled close to the front of his tunic, like he was self conscious about their appearance. But he seemed to perk up a bit when he saw the many stacks of books, wandering towards them in interest while Steve asked the best way to find general information and then got a crash course in using a laptop computer. He got the sense from the two women behind the counter that renting them out to first time library patrons was not the norm, but that they were making a special exception for him. A special exception that came with big, flirtatious smiles and roving eyes.

Gamora had rolled her eyes at the behavior and turned away, keeping watch on Loki while Steve kept himself polite long enough to gather the needed supplies and set up at an empty table. The new technology was impressive, especially the internet - but a lot less of a shock than giant spaceships and magic and aliens. He’d actually been a little disappointed when he’d found out that Earth hadn’t seemed to have progressed to the point of flying cars yet.

He found out pretty quickly that, in general, a lot of America seemed to remember him fondly. There were a variety, articles, and interviews about his achievements in the army that led to HYDRA’s defeat.

He managed to last all of twenty minutes more before he looked up Peggy. He found dozens of pictures of her, in uniform and out of it. Young...and very old. His breath caught. More than anything, the sight of her aged face drove home the fact that time had stopped for him - but not anyone else.

Gamora glanced over at his screen, and then did a double take. “Is looking at images of women vital to our plan?”

“I used to know her,” Steve said. “If she’s still alive there’s a chance she could help us.” His heart was pounding. He couldn’t find any notes of Peggy’s death even though he searched. What he did find was that her work had been far from over after the war had finished. She'd become the Director of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division in the 1950s, and had continued to work in that position until her retirement.

But if she _was_ still alive, she would be over ninety years old. He shouldn’t contact her. Not until he was absolutely sure it was safe and he wouldn’t be putting her at risk.

Before he could decide where else to look, Gamora’s hand came down softly on his shoulder. “People are leaving,” she said, low enough that her voice wouldn’t carry. “All at once.”

Steve brought his head up and saw that she was right - the rest of the library guests were making their way towards the exit. “Maybe the hours were wrong,” he said, gazing towards the desk and intending on asking the two women who’d helped him before for clarification.

They were gone.

Steve frowned, straightening readily and taking better stock of their surroundings. He’d been engaged in his searching so much that he hadn’t noticed the change before Gamora had warned him. The library had been quiet before, but now it was dead silent - not so much as the rustle of paper or the shifting of bodies upon wooden seats.

“Where’s Loki,” he asked, twisting his head.

Gamora started, then rushed to the stacks. “Not here,” she said, then cursed. “I took my eyes off him for one second. He must have used the opportunity to run.”

“I don’t think he would have done that,” Steve said.

“It is all he has tried to do since we met him,” she insisted.

Steve was tense with caution as he rose to his feet. “Let’s give the place a once over,” he said. “Check the bathrooms. Then we’re leaving.”

“Sorry,” someone said, their voice echoing down the hallway leading to the library entrance. “It seemed like you were looking for us.”

A man dressed in black suit stepped into view, followed by several others who were dressed similarly. They weren’t actively wielding weapons but they were clearly armed. Steve stayed where he was while Gamora unsheathed her sword.

The man’s eyes went to her, unfazed. “It’s illegal to carry a bladed weapon in public, ma’am. Though I’d be interested in knowing how you managed to get that past these metal detectors.”

“She’s not going to use it,” Steve said, trying to pacify before this escalated. He’d heavily punctuated the point of good first impressions to Gamora and Loki, sure that they’d be able to get themselves out if things went wrong. “Gamora, put it away. We’re talking first.”

“Talking can be done at the same time,” Gamora said, keeping her sword in its readied position. “What did you do with Loki?”

“Loki?” The man frowned. “Is there a third member of your party?” He glanced at the men around him, who all shrugged or answered to varying degrees of the negative. “We’d like to meet him, too, if at all possible. You can call me Agent Coulson. Has anyone ever told you that you bear a strong resemblance to Steve Rogers? Can I ask you your name?”

“Steve Rogers,” Steve responded, voice bland. 

Coulson blinked, his jaw dropping just a fraction. “I’m sorry, but that’s not possible.”

“Seems like it is,” Steve said, folding his arms. “What about you? Who do you work for?”

Coulson’s minor slip in composure reset itself. “I’m a member of SHIELD, Mr. Rogers.”

Steve felt his heart skip a beat, remembering the name of Peggy’s organization. It couldn’t have been a coincidence. 

Coulson reached into his suit and pulled free a photograph, which depicted a familiar crash site. “Last week we received reports of a spaceship that appeared out of thin air in a state park. Our investigation led us to you.”

“We came on that spaceship,” Steve said. “Because we have a warning for Earth.”

“Thanos,” Gamora said, “will be coming to destroy you all.”

Coulson frowned, looking puzzled. “Thanos. Was that a threat?”

“He just told you it was a warning,” Gamora said with impatience.

Steve gave her a look, and she raised her chin, took a step back and lowered her arm. She didn’t let go of her sword, but at least she wasn’t in attack mode anymore.

“You should come with us,” Coulson said, his agreeable disposition strong. “We can discuss these matters more thoroughly elsewhere.”

Gamora’s tension was back, and she looked warily at Steve for what his response would be.

“I’d like to find Loki, first,” Steve said.

Now Coulson looked nonplussed. “We have this building surrounded, Mr. Rogers. It’s impossible for anyone to have come in or out without our knowledge.”

It was definitely looking a lot more certain that at least among this particular organization, no one had the ability to use magic. “I think you’re going to find out that someone did,” Steve said. “We’re not here to cause trouble. We just want to make sure this information ends up in the right hands.”

There was still an affable wall between Coulson and whatever he was thinking. “We’re exactly the right people to handle any sensitive information you might have,” he said. Another agent suddenly rushed in, edging past the others to whisper into his ear. Coulson’s eyes widened marginally, so slight that Steve almost missed it. The doubt on his face faded. “A third member, you said. Follow me, please.”

Steve gave Gamora a pointed look and she reluctantly sheathed her sword, even going so far as to keep her hand off the hilt, if reluctantly. They exited the library and found a multitude of large black cars out in the parking lot, along with a fair number of armed men in uniform. When Coulson neared the foremost vehicle and leaned down to examine the tire, Steve realized that it was flat. He looked around the parking lot at each of the cars - every single tire had been slashed.

Gamora met his eyes knowingly.

“I’m afraid vandalism is also a crime,” Coulson said, crouched next to a damaged car. “There’s thousands of dollars in property damage here.”

Steve kept his voice flat. “He was probably worried when you surrounded the building with dozens of armed men instead of just coming to talk to us one on one.”

“We had to be sure you weren’t dangerous, Mr. Rogers.”

“He was a prisoner for a long time. Believe me, he more than feels the same way.”

Coulson took that new information with a frown. “You mean he’s been sent to jail before.”

“Not one of Earth,” Gamora said. “And not because of any crime. But because of the knowledge and physical capabilities he possessed.”

Coulson looked around, forehead wrinkling. He raised a hand to an earpiece, possibly receiving word that Steve couldn’t hear. “Perhaps, if you had a way of contacting him…”

“If he’s nearby, he probably hears us already,” Steve said. He’d been scanning for signs, but it was clear that Loki wasn’t going to show himself that easily.

Coulson turned away, his attention again on his earpiece. “Barton,” he said, then went silent for several seconds. He glanced towards Steve, before turning away again. “Stay where you are. Report if found.” He turned back to Steve, eyebrows raising. “I don’t suppose we could get a description of your missing teammate.”

“I don’t mind drawing a likeness,” Steve said. He knew a description wouldn’t pose too much of an increased risk if they needed to run - not with what Loki had told him he could do. “But I’d rather not go anywhere without him.”

Whatever magic Loki used and his sheer physical strength would put him at an advantage when it came to normal humans, but he had still suffered incredibly disabling injuries. Even if he knew enough about Earth for it to not be completely foreign to him, a lot of things required use of at least one hand. 

“I’ll see what I can do,” Coulson said with a tight smile. “Evidently, we’re not going anywhere until we call in an alternate transport.”

\----------

They took up their discussion inside the evacuated library. Coulson checked in with whoever was on the other side of his earpiece periodically. For all of her earlier caution, Gamora openly explained her origins and the nature of her relationship with Thanos to a recorder set on the table between them - how he had killed half her planet and then stolen her as a child to raise and train as both his daughter and a favored soldier.

Her willingness to deal with Coulson was a good sign for their progress. Steve wasn’t going to be completely without worry until Loki was back, but they were moving in the right direction. 

“And you, Captain Rogers,” Coulson said. He slid around the laptop Steve had used earlier, showing one of the most recent articles open - the top of it was headed by a grey-toned photo of Steve shoulder to shoulder with the Howling Commandos. “The world thought you were dead for a very long time.”

Steve shrugged. “I’m surprised anyone still remembers me.”

Coulson actually smiled a little at that. “Oh, we remember you. Trust me. Countless man hours were spent combing the ocean for your whereabouts.”

Steve’s mouth quirked, even if the thought of all those resources being expended to fruitlessly search for him sent a pang through his chest. “They didn’t know they were looking on the wrong side of the solar system.”

“Now you’re back to warn us. And help us fight this incoming threat, I hope. We could certainly use a soldier of your merits.”

“Still? I figured I’d be outclassed, this far in the future.”

Coulson’s smile grew fuller. “No, sir. You’re still one of a kind.”

Gamora was staring at Coulson in confusion, and then realization. “You worship him,” she said, and seemed to lose a bit more of her tension. 

Coulson’s expression fell a little. He awkwardly cleared his throat. “So you two met in space?”

“There was an object,” Steve said, glad for the subject change. “The Cube. It had power. It sent me to space after I crashed the Valkyrie.”

“I’ll need to clarify. You’ve been living in space for the last seventy years?”

Gamora shook her head. “He was brought to us one month ago. He took a very long time to thaw out.”

“So you were...frozen. In space.”

Steve shrugged. He didn’t remember anything beyond the shock of waking in the chill of his cell, and the quick realization that the people holding him weren’t intending on being friendly.

Coulson pushed his confusion to the side. “Describe this cube for me.”

“It glows blue,” Steve said, “and it’s a bad idea to touch it with your bare hands.”

Coulson straightened at those words. “I see,” he said, with sudden interest. He pulled a small black object from his pocket and quickly pressed some buttons. “I’m willing to admit that you just gave your story a lot more plausibility.”

Gamora narrowed her eyes. “You know what it is,” she said. 

Coulson flicked his eyes back up to her. “What what is?”

“The Tesseract,” Gamora said. “You only began to believe us fully once it was mentioned.”

“That’s what Thanos is going to be coming for,” Steve said. “What he’ll send an army to retrieve.”

“What kind of army?” Before they could answer, a large bang reverberated through the ground. Coulson was on his feet in an instant, one hand going to his gun holster and the other towards his ear. “What was that?” He looked towards Steve and Gamora. “I think we found your friend.”

Outside, in the midst of the men in tactical armor and agents in suits, stood a man carrying a bow, and an arrow that was ready to be notched. He was surveying the parking lot with careful scrutiny.

“Barton,” Coulson said.

“He’s around,” Barton murmured, still scanning. “Think he’s trying to spook us to get us to leave the area. I can’t see him most of the time. Caught a flash of something, but it was gone before I could move.”

Coulson looked to Steve. “Any chance of calling out to him, now?”

Steve sighed. “Loki, it’s okay. They’re going to help us.”

Silence answered. Gamora scanned the area, her face pinched in frustration. Steve looked at the way the men in tactical armor seemed to just grow even more tense the longer they went without a target. 

“I’d consider it a personal favor if I could avoid more property damage,” Coulson added, voice raised. 

A flash, and Loki was abruptly standing in the middle of them. Or he’d always been there, and had just now become visible. 

Barton whipped an arrow into place, leveling it at Loki before Steve jerked himself into its path, holding his hand out. “That’s not necessary.” 

Coulson quickly broke the tension. “At ease, Barton.”

Slowly, the arrow was lowered, but the forearm attached to the hand holding it remained stiff. 

Loki ran his eyes over the men surrounding them, then took a step towards Steve. 

“You’re injured,” Coulson noted, eyes scanning from Loki’s legs to his hands.

“Old wounds,” Loki responded, as if he wasn’t bothered by them. “Hardly a hindrance.”

It wasn’t quite a threat, but Steve still felt a little like Loki might as well have said “Touch me and die.”

“They know about the Tesseract,” Gamora said.

Loki looked at her sharply, and then towards Coulson with an intense mask of interest. “Then we have much to talk about.”

“I agree,” Coulson said. “Let’s take this to a less public location.”

\----------

The alternative transport Coulson had mentioned arrived shortly after that. Instead of a car, it was a form of air transport called a quinjet.

They boarded it together and sat side by side, seatbelted in as it took off. Steve could almost feel Loki’s skin crawling nonstop at the application of the safety restraints. None of it showed on his face. Gamora was less tense, but her hand stayed close to her blade.

Coulson sat opposite them between a handful of silent agents - including Barton, who kept watching Loki unblinkingly, like he expected him to disappear again at any moment. Loki stared back, his gaze icy.

“Our field office will take a few hours to get to,” Coulson said. “Once we’re secure, we can continue the interviews.” He looked specifically at Loki. “We can also provide any needed health care.”

Loki narrowed his eyes, finally drawing them away from Barton. His hands had been positioned so his mother’s crystal was totally out of sight. “Thank you,” he said, his tone polite. “Your assistance in that area will not be required.”

Steve wasn’t surprised that Loki didn’t budge at the offer, but he was a little disappointed. 

Coulson didn’t push. They stayed mostly silent for the rest of the trip.

The facility they were brought to was extensive, made of concrete, with tall arching ceilings. Loki’s stony face only seemed to grow more openly suspicious as he limped out of the quinjet and into a large hangar. When Barton broke off from the rest of the agents and walked away in quick steps, Loki all but glared at his retreating back.

Gamora glanced around at the hangar’s aircraft as they followed Coulson towards an elevator. “What is this place?”

“The Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility,” Coulson said, indicating a large sign on the wall. “Home to Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., which you'll have special interest in. This is where our organization explores phenomena beyond the range of conventional scientific understanding.”

Gamora raised her eyebrows dubiously at the sign, before turning to Steve and leaning in to speak under her breath. “People outside of your planet are beyond the range of your conventional scientific understanding?”

“I’m not surprised, considering how self-centered Earth remains,” Loki said offhandedly, and at a much less quiet volume.

“Gamora, Loki,” Steve intoned, not wanting Coulson to overhear their insults.

If anything, Gamora’s doubt only seemed to increase at Steve’s response. Loki just rolled his eyes. 

They didn’t meet anyone else in the halls, and barely saw hints of what went on beyond the categorical labeling for the science or security or administrative work done on various floors. The place was huge - Steve got the sense that the workers must have been cleared out before they’d arrived. It seemed unlikely they wouldn’t encounter anyone in the ten minutes they traveled down to the lower levels of the building.

Loki began trailing behind the longer they progressed. Steve was growing concerned enough that he was considering commenting on it to slow them down when the murmur came. “There was something off about that archer.”

Steve looked back, frowning as he saw the crystal glowing in Loki’s hand, and then even deeper when he noted the faint shine around his own body.

He looked around; no one seemed to be able to hear them, so he looked back forward and responded. “He seemed enhanced in some way.”

“Perhaps,” Loki said, voice clipped. “Take care if you see him again.” He drew back, the light of the crystal fading.

Steve frowned, trying to remember if he’d seen anything out of the ordinary himself. The bow had been an odd choice for a weapon, and Barton had been quiet - but so had every other agent besides Coulson. The only concerning thing had been his focus on Loki, which could have just as easily been because he’d never seen someone use magic.

He’d keep Loki’s warning in mind. Maybe it was nothing, but Steve knew at this point not to discount his teammates completely.

The room they ended up in was deep down inside the facility. It was of a fair size, and there were already seats set up for them at a long table near the back wall. 

Coulson held his arm out in indication and Steve entered it first. Gamora followed next, looking over the walls in wariness. Loki’s face, on the other hand, stayed perfectly blank.

Coulson set up the recorder between them. He watched in wordless courtesy as Loki gingerly took a seat across from him. “We’ve already heard from Gamora and Captain Rogers,” he said. “Now I’d like to learn a little bit about you.”

At the acknowledgment, Loki’s face changed. The flat stare left him, and a grin formed in its place. The expression was brief, but sharp as a knife. Steve had never seen him wear a look like that.

His voice was smooth and confident. “Please. Ask your questions.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Fic progress is remaining fairly good, but I’m not expecting the next chapter to be posted quite as quickly as this one was.
> 
> I fixed one or two canon continuity issues with the last chapter. They won't affect the story at all, just my own embarrassment. ;)

In the library, Loki had found books on Steve Rogers. On the war he had come from, and the Midgardian squabbles of the past. How it seemed protection from the rest of the wide universe had only availed the humans more chances to turn their hatred and violence towards each other, as primitive and bestial as ever.

More importantly, he had found the views of Steve Rogers from outside sources, information far beyond Loki’s previous brief infiltration of his mind. Many of them marked him a hero. They sang his praises. Any negative aspects, whatever darker occurrences associated with him or those carried out by his compatriots, acknowledged briefly but named just compromises for the sake of war.

The response of Coulson to knowing Rogers’s identity contained as much reverence as the paragraphs Loki had found in those pages. That was the only reason he had willingly stepped into the stronghold of the agents. That, and he knew even as weakened as he was, there was little chance the weapons these people carried would harm him personally. 

Thor had nearly defeated them even stripped of his power, when he’d attempted to prematurely retake Mjolnir during his banishment. Presented with Loki at full strength, they would have fallen like flies. 

Their chances when presented with Loki at full strength _and_ with the weapon of incredible might that Thanos had sought to give him...worse.

And now he was among those who would attempt to convince these people that they had even a possibility of defending themselves against the invasion to come. 

It was laughable. It was _hilarious_ , now that he was here to realize it. They were all of them so far out of their depths that any single one of the Mad Titan’s Children could rip a swath through the entire Earth, and the only thing to slow them down would be the sheer number of lives that required extinguishment. Even Loki controlling the Destroyer from a distance would have been enough to level Earth’s cities had that been his intent.

There was no chance. To think otherwise was madness. 

“Now I’d like to learn a little bit about you.”

His lips stretched before he could help it, his thoughts coursing through his mind like jagged glass. At the last moment, he was able to regain himself, though the giddy feeling remained. “Please. Ask your questions.”

“Captain Rogers said your name was Loki,” Coulson said.

Loki remembered this same man facing down a stone-faced Thor, full of confidence and calm as he threatened a fallen prince of Asgard. He also remembered him running desperately for cover as Loki had ordered the Destroyer to open fire.

If Coulson had held even an inkling of the true danger that lurked in the far reaches of the universe, he would have fallen to the floor and despaired. 

“That would be correct,” Loki said, giving no hint of the dark thoughts swirling in his mind.

“Last name?”

Loki could not help the bitter smile that pulled at his mouth. So many wonderful choices to pick from. The edges of Frigga’s crystal dug sharply into the flesh of his palm. “Not as such.”

“And where are you from?”

They knew he was not from their world. So the decision before him was to claim citizenship to Asgard, a Realm he hated, and one they would very recently have knowledge of, thanks to Thor - or to lie, and say he was from somewhere else.

He knew which of those options Steve Rogers would prefer, with his sturdy belief that blunt honesty would inspire goodwill. 

But perhaps there was another option, that was both true and not. “I was born on Jotunheim,” he said.

Coulson’s smile stretched wider in casual interest. “Jotunheim,” he repeated. “Were you taken from there by Thanos?”

Loki narrowed his eyes. It would seem the others had already handed over at least some of the information of his captivity. “No. I fell through the Void into his hands.”

“What is the Void?”

“Endless space, where time and life are meaningless.”

“And you fell into that...how?”

“That is a personal matter that I would very much not like to recount,” Loki said, steering very clear of any mention of his time as Asgard’s king. “But I can freely tell you of what came after. How the Titan saw use in my strength, so much so that he spent months patiently allowing his followers to tear me apart in hopes I would fall to their side at the promise of being reforged as something greater than I was. They believed the gloriousness of their cause should supersede all of my former desires.” He felt the pull of the scar tissue at his cheeks, remembered the grinding of metal forcefully parting his jaws. “They were...very eager to persuade me.”

Loki could see Gamora’s hands tensing where they were resting against the table, her eyes aimed pointedly forward at nothing. He wondered if she was worried that he might turn the blame upon her. Should he wish it, he could make an effort to paint her as the only true danger among them. He had enough proof.

Coulson’s smile had disappeared. To his credit, he kept looking at Loki in the eyes instead of dropping his gaze to look over the remnants of his injuries. “It sounds like it was a very difficult experience. And that we should be thanking you for assisting Captain Rogers in coming back home.”

For all the good such an act would do. Loki had thought he was keeping himself rational, but he was slowly realizing the severity of his own thorough self-deceptions. In the aftermath of the unbelievable successes of their escapes from both Sanctuary and Asgard, he had fallen out of touch. Allowed himself to be swept up by an idea of _hope_.

Rogers was full of it. He would walk with his head held high even into his own death. He would do so with considerably less bluster than Thor or his friends, but with no less certitude.

Loki had been willing to risk it when his other options had been to stay and become ground down into nothing. He’d even kept his hatred for Gamora from overshadowing their plans after they’d arrived on Earth.

But the end to that line was fast approaching. Loki had no interest in remaining on this planet, any more than he wanted to remain on Asgard. Its people could burn, and he would not weep. He had no desire to bring about such an end to them himself, but to actively throw himself in harm’s way to prevent it?

He had barely escaped Sanctuary alive the first time. And he knew better than to expect a quick death if he was found again.

“You are welcome,” Loki said, a sense of calm falling over him as his thoughts began to settle. “Thank you, for your generosity in allowing me refuge. Your facility is impressive.”

“Yes, about that,” Coulson said. “We can grant you accommodations. Resources, to help you get back on your feet. All onsite.”

“Thank you,” Rogers said. He sounded relieved. 

Loki would allow him that. It would make things simpler, if a member of their group appeared all the more genuine.

"What are your plans for us?” Gamora asked. She stared at Coulson as if she believed what he was saying was too good to be true.

Coulson’s smile twitched a little. “I thought we could allow you three a bit of rest, first, while I go over the information you’ve already given me. Colonel Director Fury will be en route soon. He’s the current head of SHIELD.” He pulled out a drawer from his side of the table and withdrew a few stacks of paper nestled within large envelopes. “I also took the liberty of having some information compiled to help you settle in.”

Rogers grabbed at his offering the most readily, already skimming through their contents. “What about SHIELD’s previous director?”

“I assume you’re referencing Director Carter,” Coulson said. “I can have another file made for you and sent to your room. Minus any classified details.”

Loki stared at the folder that had been slid across the table towards him. He made no move to touch it. “Do you have no more questions for me?”

“Not at the moment,” Coulson said. He smiled that same bland smile once again. “You’ve been very helpful, Mr. Loki. We’ll speak again soon.”

\----------

The rooms given to them were separated but connected by doors. They were of a much better quality than the places on Earth they had stayed in before now - cheap hotels rented with money that Gamora had stolen from random humans and Steve Rogers had looked mildly pained about but ultimately agreed to the expediency of using.

Loki looked over his quarters - even he could not see much in them to label them a cell - and found it free of anything overly concerning. There was a full wardrobe, a desk, a stocked bathroom, and a well-furnished bed. 

He set down his folder upon the desk, uninterested in the contents. What the organization would willingly give him was likely to be of less use than what he would prise from them himself through subterfuge. There were a few investigations he needed to conduct before he was even close to feeling at ease around Coulson and his agents, but so far they had responded to Loki’s willful destruction of their property with far more lenience than they had shown to Thor. 

Of course, Thor had introduced himself by deliberately attacking their men with the intention of reclaiming his hammer. 

Still, the lack of any intimidation tactics or threats had been unexpected. Loki knew he must seem especially paranoid after his dire warnings had led to nothing.

Rogers was in the next room over. Loki gave the door to it a gentle knock.

The voice that responded with an invitation for him to enter sounded...off.

Loki did not have the dexterity to open the door physically, so he twisted the knob with a brush of magic. Rogers was sitting on the bed, hunched over, eyes focused on the papers in his lap. His black jacket had been hung over a nearby chair and the tense lines to his shoulders were clearly visible beneath the white shirt he wore.

Rogers glanced up, mouth set in a grim line, which eased when he focused on Loki. He set aside the pages with a special sort of care. “Sorry,” he said, straightening. “I was…” He didn’t continue, a swallow bobbing in his throat.

“Finding the fate of someone you once knew,” Loki finished for him. “I _was_ in the library for the majority of your research.”

“I thought she could help us,” Rogers said. “But she’s...old. Sick.” An unhappy sigh heaved through him, his gaze falling back longingly on the papers. 

Loki was not sure what response Rogers expected of him. That the people of Earth grew old and died quickly was nothing new. Having one of them as an additional ally would have availed them the most miniscule of benefits.

Loki rolled Frigga’s crystal between his palms. “You plan on remaining here, then.”

Rogers leaned back, as if he was trying to push up against a great weight. “I have a lot to catch up on that they can provide. I didn’t actually expect getting the warning out about Thanos would happen this easily.” 

Did Rogers really take comfort so readily in every hand that was extended to him? 

Rogers looked Loki up and down. “You’re not convinced.”

“They are hiding something,” Loki said, unable to help himself.

“Maybe,” Rogers said, rising from the bed. “But I’m getting the feeling they’re not the only ones.” 

Loki narrowed his eyes, refusing to move away as he was approached. 

Rogers set his eyebrows into a solemn line. “You lied to Agent Coulson.”

“No, I did not,” Loki defended easily. “You know my true heritage yourself.”

“Loki, come on. You told me Asgard watches over Earth. But you didn’t even mention it to him.”

Loki laughed in a soft huff of a breath. “I find myself incredibly uninterested in discussing what I left behind.”

Rogers’s frown was deepening, a hint of frustrated anger rushing to the surface. “We’re coming to these people for help. If they knew someone else was out there-”

“Someone they cannot contact in any way.” Loki said defensively. He grasped his hands together as best he could with his aching, awkward grip. “Knowledge of Asgard is pointless to their cause. Even more now that I have severed all ties to it.”

Rogers looked down to Loki’s hands, where the crystal was nestled. “All ties,” he repeated pointedly, in clear disbelief.

Loki looked back, daring him to continue the argument. 

A tense and rapid knock came from Gamora’s room, drawing their attention before it could. 

She came in without even waiting for Rogers’s response, her own files in her hands. “So is this it? We’re here and now we are just meant to...read and wait?”

Rogers turned around, freeing Loki of that judgmental gaze. “They’ll get to us soon. Agent Coulson said the Director was on his way.”

Gamora was not comforted. “It has been hours.”

“Perhaps he is dead,” Loki suggested, taking amusement in her confusion.

Rogers gave him an exasperated look. “He’s not. He’ll be here tomorrow.”

Gamora scowled. “He only has one planet to traverse.”

“Have you not been paying attention?” Loki asked, voice sharp with condescension. “He is on his way. It will take him _hours_ more to arrive.” 

He watched as it dawned on Gamora of what exactly she had agreed to. They had all arrived at a planet with aircraft that moved at a snail’s pace, with people as weak as blades of grass _and_ nearly completely ignorant of the goings on of the rest of the universe. She darted her gaze to Loki, her eyes a little too wide. 

Rogers frowned, not understanding. “What?”

Loki knew he was enjoying the situation far too much. “I think she is recalling the better days of being able to slaughter and torture at will with the might of the Chitauri army at her back.”

“I’m not talking to you,” Gamora said, voice blunt and spiteful. 

Loki did not let it go - he let cruelty seep into his expression. “Did you think running from your tyrannical father would make your life _safer_?”

Her gaze darkened, but she was not as easily riled into a complete rage as she once had been. She spoke in a low, severe voice. “Thanos is no more my father than Odin is yours.”

Loki fell silent in shock. Something black inside of him pulsated from its dormant state. He swallowed down through his tightening throat.

He put the resulting anger to good use, letting it overtake his expression as he turned to Rogers. “I hope you enjoy explaining it to her.”

He retreated back into his room, grateful for the excuse to leave, and called forth magic to slam the door for good measure. Rogers did not pursue him. 

He jerked to a stop, like a puppet that had abruptly had its strings cut. He felt torn, and was angry that he felt torn. He pulled the crystal up towards his chest, staring at the door in his room that led to the facility’s hallways, fighting with the urge to walk through it and simply disappear.

He did not really think that Rogers would have found the right questions that would have brought him to the information that Loki was attempting to keep hidden. And if he had, Loki could have simply lied again to keep him from true knowledge of it. But that did not stop the odd feeling coursing through him. It was not precisely guilt, and nor was it as strong as worry. But there was a heavy disinclination to be found out. 

He went to the files on the desk, needing a distraction. As he expected, they contained general information of Earth, and only the briefest of descriptions of SHIELD and their ongoing duty to protect their planet. Nothing useful.

Minutes passed. Then an hour. 

Eventually, Loki went to his own bed. He thought he would find relaxation but he soon found that he disliked too much being enclosed while he was completely alone. For every set of footsteps he heard travel the hallways his stomach would do an odd flip, his own timidity further angering him as he remembered needles and whips and metal piercing his skin.

Earth held no real dangers. Not for him. The true trouble would come from elsewhere.

The hour grew late. He cast simple wards on the doors to alert him should anyone enter. 

In his dreams, Thanos spoke patiently to him of purpose as he writhed and choked on his own blood.

\----------

He only slept for a handful of hours. After his second nightmare jolted him awake, he could not bring himself to attempt another return to slumber. He lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling and rolling Frigga’s crystal between his palm and the mattress. He could feel the line of magic stored within the trinket, tied directly to his own being.

She’d given a great deal of herself in the making of it. Loki had not realized just how much until he’d pulled enough to hide himself from sight at the library. 

Using such magic felt odd. It was not his. But all the same, it was better than nothing. Better than being more than simply a broken body. And it made his previous description of his capabilities in the hotel room more than just an arrogant recollection of the power he’d once held.

His pride wasn’t so strong that he’d been able to discard the crystal. Neither was the bitterness that coated the deep and resonant pull he felt in his heart.

He wasn’t going to think about that now. He knew if he did it would quickly turn to rage, and make him reconsider the aid he had been given. Or it would instead grow into sorrow - _sentiment_ \- that would render him useless. Thanos and his disciples had been working to cleanse Loki of such disruptive thoughts, but their work had gone unfinished, even if he remembered well the lessons he had been given.

He could not afford to be useless now. Neither did he have the desire to remain idle any longer. He let the crystal glow golden in his hand, and left an illusion of himself sleeping on the bed.

He entered Rogers’s room first. He found the man sleeping restlessly, shallow frown lines on his face. He had changed his clothes, and was now wearing a dark shirt with SHIELD’s insignia across one shoulder. He had showered and shaved his face, and the lack of facial hair made him appear much younger than the growth that had formed during his captivity. He looked more human. Fragile.

When Loki had pulled information from his mind on Sanctuary, he’d assumed Rogers would be furious. Loki knew it had been another tactic of his captors to offer him the chance at a brief escape from their attentions only to have him suffer under the hands of their newest prisoner. 

He hadn’t expected help. Even though he had reached into Rogers’s mind and seen some of the man that was beneath that confident exterior, he hadn’t expected kindness.

He had seized the chance at receiving it. Though at one time he would have thought he would rather spit in the faces of his tormentors than beg, he knew he had been growing dangerously close to his breaking point. He’d been desperate to escape.

Steve Rogers was just a man. More powerful than his fellow humans, but a man nonetheless. An insignificant, single, _mortal_ life in the vast expanse of everything.

Yet he had stood up to the greatest terrors of it with unflinching determination. He had tended to Loki, and refused to leave him behind on Sanctuary, or anywhere else along the way. He spoke in terms of debt, placing as much credit for their escape upon Loki as he did himself. He had defended Loki from Gamora’s violence.

Loki watched him sleep, that handsome face laden with the shadows of distress that Rogers did not allow himself to show in his waking moments.

Loki was more than aware it was not only simple debt that drove him to stay. 

Thanos had nearly broken him. Loki had turned to Rogers in defiance of the Mad Titan and his followers, but he had not stopped to consider the fact that perhaps his weakening upon Sanctuary was informing how deeply he had been swayed by his fellow escapee.

All the more reason for him to leave, before it was too late.

He allowed himself a few more minutes of watching, before he moved on.

In the next room he found Gamora. She was sleeping even less well than Steve Rogers, her forehead pinched and her body seemingly tensed even in sleep. She had thrown the pillow and the blankets of her bed onto the ground. She too wore SHIELD’s garb, though her own clothes were hung over the back of a chair nearby. She had braided her hair tightly in preparation for bed, the red tips brushing her shoulders.

Loki stood over her in the dark. He thought of his crushed hands and the pinpricks of scars on his face. To slip a knife into her throat now wouldn’t be the easiest of tasks, even with the advantage of her unconsciousness. He dwelled long on it, the idea of revenge. 

He left her, rationalizing that such an action held far too much risk. 

There were agents manning the corridors when he traveled the halls. Doors with locks that required codes and cards or the scan of the eye to bypass.

They had no defenses against magical tampering. 

If Loki had been wishing to attract attention, he would have murdered one of the agents and taken his eye to use. But he was not, and so he made do with patience, with misdirection and gentle manipulation of their defenses. Frigga’s crystal glowed in his palm, powering what he needed.

He found Coulson’s office soon enough. The man was still awake; Loki imagined he was used to late nights. He was speaking with someone over a device pressed to his ear. There were screens projected above the table’s surface, split three ways and displaying images and information on Loki, Gamora, and Steve Rogers.

“Yes, sir,” Coulson was saying. “They’re sleeping now. They appear to be nothing but forthcoming.” A pause, while he waited for whoever was on the other end to speak. “I don’t think we will, either.” A smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. “I thought it best to give Captain Rogers some breathing room before I asked for his autograph.” Another pause. “Thank you, sir. We’ll see you soon.”

Loki waited while Coulson ended the call, and then stared across the room at the images on the wall. He sighed, and then began to organize the paper files piled on his desk. It was not much longer before he dimmed the lights in the room, and left it. The door locked several times behind him.

Loki moved to his desk. It was easy to open. Once he found the files he sought, he took his time in reading them.

SHIELD did have the Tesseract. Not only that, but it was not tucked away - they were actively studying it for weapons development. That was the ultimate intent behind their Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.. 

They’d had possession of it for years, but their efforts to tap into its power had been redoubled in previous months due to the more recent knowledge of alien threats to them from the wide universe.

Knowledge that they had because of Loki’s very own attack on Thor while he was exiled upon Earth. Though they had failed to notice its connection to Asgard, the Destroyer had made an impression.

Loki did not appreciate the irony.

He found that they believed they were making progress with the Tesseract to turn it into a means of defense for their planet. One of their scientists had predicted that he was very near to understanding how to unlock its potential for them to use.

And apparently, it was located in the very same facility that Loki now found himself.

He ground his jaw, panic stirring his veins at the confirmation.

The fools. They had no idea what they risked. Their very hopes of using its power to influence their might was going to bring about their ending all the more quickly.

And Loki’s reprieve was going to be much, much shorter if they continued to stick their hands into places they shouldn’t.

He left Coulson’s office, a plan forming in his mind. He would quietly destroy whatever progress they had made in their studies. He might even take the Tesseract himself if he found the right moment. He could already hear Rogers reprimanding him, telling him that they should discuss it with SHIELD, simply _ask_ them to stop their research in an attempt to prevent the oncoming threat. 

They would not stop. Why would they? They’d had a taste of what could threaten them, and now held an infinity stone in their grasp, containing within it the promise of their insignificant lives being propelled to something greater.

It was what Loki would do. But Loki knew he could actually _wield_ the Tesseract. The humans were as ants scrambling about upon a knife, struggling to figure out how to put it to use. It would fall and crush them.

It took several minutes of travel to make his way towards the proper floor.

He nearly felt the Tesseract before he saw it.

It was under guard, with several armed mortals within and without the room that contained it. It stood within a round frame in the midst of scientists, its glow a dormant haze. A dozen connections pressed to its surface. Devices around it drew readings from its energy, displaying charts and graphs and numbers.

Loki looked upon it, the relic that had transported his rescuer into space. The very same one that would bring down his end if it was left as it was.

A beeping noise sounded from one of the devices, startling him.

“Look at this,” one of the scientists said excitedly, watching the devices begin to react with fervor. Loki made his way towards him, already attempting to calculate the best method to impair their machines. “Look at these readings!”

“There’s some sort of energy build up.”

“What is it responding to?”

_“Asgardian.”_

Loki froze in his approach. His eyes flew wide. 

Thanos’s voice, deep and familiar and terrible, rumbled within his very skull. _“So you have already found it. I knew that you were the right choice.”_

He turned to the Tesseract in horror; the air around it was rumbling with power. The scientists exclaimed and continued speaking to one another as their devices reacted, but their voices sounded very far away.

A familiar outline was beginning to take shape before him. It grew into a looming shadow that stared down with pitiless eyes. The Tesseract’s swirling blue was visible through its transparent form.

No one else reacted to its presence - the vision was for Loki alone.

His hands trembled as he stared up in horror, pinned in place by his own dread. _This is not possible._

The form before him remained a terrifying and persistent reality. “It would not have been had I not successfully predicted where it was you and your companion would scurry to.” Thanos gazed at the scepter grasped in his hand, the stone upon it glowing. “My plan to gift you the scepter to gather enough energy to send your physical body through the Tesseract’s portal became needless with your escape. You chose the long route, but it freed me to instead put the Mind Stone to a different, more subtle use. I called you here, and now that you have arrived…”

There was a pull in his mind - the hooks that had been implanted there, that he had nearly killed himself to withstand in his escape - _wrenched._ Loki collapsed to a knee, his muscles refusing to support him, staring forward in agonized shock.

Thanos spoke in a command that resonated through Loki’s very cells. “You will obey.” 

_No!_

Loki tore himself away, his heart pounding and his head screeching fire as he forcefully drove himself in stumbling steps from the energy leaching through the Tesseract. He had been wrong, he should not have come to this place, he had to take himself as far from it as possible-

The Mad Titan’s voice came again, fading with the growing distance, but the smugness in it was unmistakable. “Do you not understand? Your concerns come far too late. My influence is already here.”

Something clacked audibly beneath Loki’s foot.

A concussive blast filled with heat and light sent him flying into the wall, and then crashing back onto the floor, his joints cracking in protest. He panted in a daze, struggling to make sense of what had just happened.

Frigga’s crystal was no longer in his grasp. Without her magic, his illusion had been shattered. He jolted with the realization, forcing his agonized body to turn, scrambling at the ground in desperate search. He paused as he noted a piece of metal on the ground near his hand. He stared at it, the remnant of the thing that had exploded, and saw the Asgardian technology weaved within its structure. 

It was connected to the fletching of an arrow.

An alarm was sounding overhead, lights blaring. He jerked his head up, quickly estimating the origin of the arrow’s path. On a ledge far above him, a shadow moved and then was gone.

He was surrounded by dozens of armed agents before he could fully rise. Coulson was at their head, his own weapon in hand - a huge gun, with energy glowing red within the muzzle. Loki swallowed as he recognized it, going carefully still.

“Loki,” Coulson said. “Brother of Thor. You were the one who sent the Destroyer to Puente Antiguo.” 

Damn.


	3. Chapter 3

Gamora woke after only a few hours of rest, unsettled by the odd surface beneath her. The beds offered by the Terrans were of lesser quality than the Asgardian ones, and much, _much_ softer. She would have thought nothing of it before, but now she wondered if this was yet another signal of the inherent weakness in the human species.

She did not know what she had been expecting. She’d known Steve Rogers was special. A prime physical specimen among his kind. She had certainly not considered that he might be _one_ of a kind.

He’d been altered, just as Thanos had altered her. With a chemical substance from a creator that was now dead. She’d seen flashes of the information during his research in the library, even in the midst of being far too distracted with keeping an eye on Loki to truly appreciate what it all meant.

She rose, sitting at the edge of her bed in the dark, continuing to overthink the entire situation for much longer than she was proud of. She was not used to remaining idle - there had always been another mission to pursue on Sanctuary, or more training to perform. And when there wasn’t, when the quiet would descend, that was when Thanos would often take her aside and describe where he would take his rest after his great task was finished.

She knew she was being ridiculous in her concerns with the humans and their technology and knowledge. The weakness of Earth didn’t matter as much as she was imagining it did. Even if the planet had been the home of the most competitive advancements in all the universe, if Thanos knew where the stone was located and had the ability to reach it, it would end exactly the same.

Simply keeping the Tesseract from his grasp had to be their main goal.

The Mind Stone was already in his possession. The first of six. Just to get that single one had been the work of years and years, and yet the fact that he had managed it at all terrified her. 

He would not get the others.

The bathing quarters adjacent to her room were functional and well-labeled. She used them quickly and dressed herself once more, resigned to remaining awake.

She was sitting on the bed, sharpening her sword, when she heard it. An alarm, so distant she thought for a moment it was simply in her mind. She rose from the bed and stepped closer to the door, and still it was there, like a ringing in her ears after being concussed from training with Nebula. 

She retreated into Steve’s room. It would have been more realistic to ask Loki about it first, as he was, like her, more likely to have the senses capable of hearing what she thought she was hearing. But she had experienced enough of the Asgardian’s temper in the last several days and had no wish to deal with his vitriol at that moment. 

She opened the door quietly, but Steve still roused quickly at the sound. He shot upright and his gaze darted towards her, before his expression softened.

“Gamora,” he said, swinging his legs over the side of his bed. He checked the time on the clock on the side table. “You’re up early. Something you need?”

His blond hair was mussed from his slumber. She tried not to let her eyes linger on his defined musculature in the tight clothes he had been given. 

“You don’t hear it,” she said, displeased with the confirmation. “There is an alarm sounding in this building. It’s muffled. I think the walls are blocking it from being heard.”

She saw him go still, head tilting as he tried to seek what she described with his own senses. “Is it ongoing?”

She nodded.

“Maybe they need our help,” he said, getting to his feet and grabbing his clothes. “We should wake up Loki.”

She nodded tightly. “Dress,” she said, already readying herself for the return of the Asgardian’s acrid tone. “I will gather him.”

Or she would have gathered him, if the room had not been completely empty. Her heart seized as she stared around at the emptiness, then rushed to check his bathroom, finding it also empty.

His room held no signs of forced entry. Which meant it was likely he had left it on his own, without discussing it with either her or Steve. Her stomach sank viciously. 

She shouldn’t have been surprised. It did not make the urge to strangle him any less. He had spoken so confidently about the dangers of the humans even despite their weaknesses, and now this. 

She had no idea why she had allowed herself to place so much faith in him. 

“He’s not here,” she said, her voice carrying.

“What?” Steve rushed into the room, pulling his black jacket on over his white shirt. He stared at the empty bed, lips parted.

He met her eyes, his earlier caution at her warning deepening.

They left the rooms and searched the halls with quick, careful steps, wordlessly changing their behaviors from those that had been given asylum to those under expecting a dangerous and immediate threat. No one met them in defense or attack, and they were able to make it to a column of stairs without interference. The alarms were louder there, enough that Steve signalled that he could finally hear them himself. 

He picked up his pace, rushing down, until the sound of footsteps rushed up to meet them made him freeze in readiness for an attack. Gamora unsheathed her sword.

It was only a single human that came to meet them - the archer that had threatened Loki in the parking lot. He was armed, but his weapons were still slung across his back. 

He stopped a full case of stairs down from them, breathing hard from exertion. “Captain,” he said, chest heaving. “As you’ve probably noticed, there’s been a problem.”

Steve set his lips into a thin line. “Barton, right? Our friend went missing.”

“Yeah, we found him,” Barton said. “He was trying to steal the Cube.”

Gamora swallowed, a tense anger building within her. It was here. It was _here._ “Did you stop him?”

Barton nodded, jerking a thumb to indicate the direction behind him. “He’s in custody. But he did something to it. It gave off a crazy energy spike and damaged most of the room. It’s calming down now, but you don’t want to go in there.”

Steve looked back at her, clearly waiting for her response.

Gamora clenched her jaw. Loki shouldn’t have taken himself anywhere near the Tesseract without first consulting them. If it was up to her they would just leave him to rot.

She already knew that Steve was not going to agree. 

She kept her face still, giving no response. Barton looked between them as if he could sense the tension, but did not comment on it. 

Steve’s lips downturned, but he took her closed-off expression in stride. He addressed Barton. “Can you take us to Loki?”

\----------

Barton led them through the facility, to a room on a floor that rested deep beneath the ground. In the room there were a series of screens showing a different room from various angles. It showed a cell of metal and clear walls, and bright lights to clearly illuminate the occupant.

Loki was in the cell. He sat on a raised platform stationed along one wall. He stared forward at nothing, his wrists encased in heavy shackles connected by a thick metal bar. A chain trailed from its center, pooled on the floor between his feet. 

Gamora narrowed her eyes. He bore no new marks to indicate he had been beaten or otherwise tortured. That did not seem to comfort Steve, who looked as if he wanted to break into the cell immediately and set Loki free.

Agent Coulson was standing before the screens. When he saw the expression on Steve’s face, his lips tightened. He clearly felt discomfort at seeing Steve upset.

“We came to you for help,” Steve said, as if the humans’ actions were unwarranted.

“Captain Rogers,” Agent Coulson said, reaching for a folder on the table before him, opening it to reveal a series of photos. “I mean no disrespect, but you have to understand - your friend...this Loki, has been identified as an alien entity who carried out a terrorist attack in New Mexico earlier last year, via remote handling of an artificial entity.”

In the photos, there were images of destruction. A few showed a great being of sleek silver, firing beams of power from its head.

Thor stood in the middle of a street to face it down.

Gamora ground her jaw, turning her gaze to stare at Loki on the screens, growing angrier at the rigid and emotionless mask he wore on his face. She’d known it. She’d _known._

But Loki had kept it from them. Danced around the subject every time they’d hit the mark. 

He’d been much the same while being tortured on Sanctuary.

What had he been thinking? She knew that he wasn’t kind or pure of heart. He had even openly admitted to fighting with Asgard’s heir before his fall. 

But this level of betrayal...he’d just gone off on his own without consulting either of them. Not even a full night had passed and he was already risking their refuge. 

After what they had been through. She had allowed him to continue breathing, and this was how he repaid them.

Steve was still looking at the photos, as if by looking longer he could force them to change. His acceptance came with a heavy sigh. “Can I talk to him?”

“You should let me,” Gamora said, drawing their attention. “He fears me. He does not care what I think of him.” She looked pointedly towards Steve, who stared disapprovingly but did not interrupt. “And I tortured him. He has no reason to expect I won’t do it again.”

Barton, who had been leaning back with his shoulders against the wall, settled his attention on her and did not look away. 

“That’s not a good idea,” Steve said.

“Don’t tell me it’s not a good idea,” Gamora said, voice short. She stared at Agent Coulson so she wouldn’t see any further reactions Steve would give. “Are you just confining him or do you intend interrogations?”

Agent Coulson did not respond immediately with a denial. “You don’t seem surprised by his behavior.”

“His self-preservation instincts are strong,” she said. “He cares for himself first and foremost. He’ll do anything to escape this place.”

“He surrendered,” Agent Coulson said. At Gamora’s scowl, he continued. “He was incapacitated by an explosion - which didn’t seem to do much damage to him, physically. But we did manage to corner him with some of our most advanced weaponry.” He looked towards the screens. “He turned himself over quite eagerly at that point.” He gave a tight smile, turning back to her. “He told us we didn’t know what we were dealing with and that he wanted to speak to you two as quickly as possible.”

Steve turned to her with his eyebrows raised with meaning. “Then we’ll go talk to him.”

Gamora felt her anger struggle to subside. She nodded with reluctance.

\----------

They entered the cell side by side. Loki’s gaze snapped to them immediately, his ruined hands twitching. He moved unsteadily to his feet, the chain stretching up along with him. She could see the end of it was fastened to a ring in the floor, preventing him from venturing far beyond his current position.

The way he shifted his eyes between them, but kept his body still, was akin to a cornered beast that feared movement would bring attack upon it. “Let me guess,” he said. “You were informed that I was attempting to steal the Tesseract.”

Gamora glowered and cocked her head dubiously. “Are you trying to say you weren’t?”

“Oh no,” Loki said, and he was _smiling_ , like this was all some hilarious joke. “That was certainly an option I was carefully considering.”

Gamora felt anger dig deeper into her chest. Despite her hints at her willingness to intimidate him, she logically knew his fear of pain would not overcome his urge to be difficult. And he could be _very_ difficult.

“A mistake, I will admit,” Loki said, riling her further with his overly unconcerned way of speaking. “Earth’s people are mildly more resourceful than I was expecting.”

“Loki,” Steve said, his expression making it clear he appreciated Loki’s tone about as much as Gamora did. “Did you lead an attack on New Mexico with a giant metal robot?”

Loki darted his gaze to Steve, his smile faltering at the edges. Some unidentifiable emotion brimmed in his gaze, before it faded into nothingness. The mask enfolded back over his expression as he straightened as best he could against his bonds.

“Yes,” he said, the insufferable smile back. “Although its citizens were not of my concern. Only Thor.”

Steve sighed deeply at the confirmation, and Gamora felt a bit of bitterness at the fact that he’d been naive enough to so blindly trust Loki. “You were trying to kill him.”

Loki shrugged with continued grating casualness. “The Destroyer, as its name suggests, has few other functions.”

“Why?”

Now Loki went quiet, his lips slowly parting. His eyes flicked up, glancing towards where one of the cell’s cameras was located. 

When he turned his gaze back towards Steve, his features set with a new harshness, like he had finally given up the ruse of seeing him as a friend. His eyes glinted, and Gamora found her hand instinctively straying to her sword.

Loki’s voice remained calm, though his stare promised danger. “It’s a complicated matter.”

Steve folded his arms, refusing to be put off. “So complicated that you put human lives at risk with a weapon of mass destruction.”

“Necessary collateral, to draw Thor from hiding.” 

The longer the conversation went on, the more callous Loki’s voice got. The heat in his gaze was gaining strength and beginning to bleed over into the rest of his face.

“You showed us the way to Earth,” Steve said, stubbornly ignoring the signals. “Do you have any plans to finish what you started?”

Loki suddenly jerked forward several steps, pulling his chain taut. Gamora clenched the hilt of her sword in her hand. Steve hadn’t moved.

“Why would my answer matter,” Loki demanded, now fully baring his teeth, like he would try to tear their throats out if they dared to come within reach. “Whatever you think of me, Captain Rogers, remember your oath to protect this planet. These are not your allies. They are weaklings scrabbling for power beyond their reach, and they will do whatever is required to achieve their goals, even if their foolish tampering puts them at great risk.”

Steve’s own emotions finally broke over his face - he frowned in confusion and dismay at Loki’s response.

Gamora did not harbor the same lack of understanding. Loki’s tone was familiar: he had often resorted to it when the pain was becoming too much, when his panic became too great and he wished to fire back at her or Nebula.

“Your brother is still alive,” Steve pointed out, and Loki’s face twitched at the title. “He beat the Destroyer. What happened after the attack?”

Loki leaned back, putting enough slack into the chain that he no longer looked so much like a beast that strained at the end of its leash. “Thor confronted me on Asgard. I fell. You know what occurred next.”

“So you attacked Earth,” Steve noted, eyebrows twitching up. “But no one died. And you didn’t kill your brother.”

“Believe me, I very much intended to,” Loki said, his outrage now back in full swing. “If you are only here to ignore my warnings, then so be it. Perhaps Gamora will at least be able to fulfill our mission.”

Gamora glowered - he’d been ignoring her since she arrived and now he was speaking as if _she_ was the one who was on his side. “Our mission was only to ensure the Tesseract stayed out of Thanos’s hands. What purpose would you have had for trying to run with it yourself?”

Loki looked at her, his gaze full of meaning. “Good. So you are not _entirely_ missing the point.” 

Her temper snapped; she jerked her sword half out of its sheath. “Just speak plainly!”

Steve gently touched her arm. His brow was furrowed as he stared at Loki, his gaze going down to his crippled hands. Gamora followed his line of sight and then realized - Loki was not holding his mother’s crystal any longer. Had the humans taken it from him?

“We’ll talk again,” Steve promised, an odd stilted quality to his voice. “Gamora, come on.”

Gamora did move, but not towards the door. She stalked forward, and Loki instinctively backed away, but there was nowhere for him to go. She pulled her sword completely free, grabbing at the bar between his shackles and holding the blade close to his outermost finger.

“If you want to keep your hands,” she threatened. “You will tell us what we need to know.”

Loki’s eyes burned with fury as he stared back at her. This close, she could clearly see the mottled scarring around his mouth. It pulled oddly at his skin as he smiled again, eyelids fluttering. 

When he spoke it was barely above a whisper. “He is still disappointed in you.”

Cold gripped her heart. Steve Rogers was saying her name and pulling stringently at her arm. She allowed him to lead her.

She turned to gaze at Loki one last time before they exited the cell. He was still smiling.

\----------

“It doesn’t seem like you were able to get very much out of him,” Agent Coulson noted as they returned.

“He’s insane,” Gamora said, unable to shake the chill inside of her. 

Barton was still there, his weapons slung over his back and his eyes on her drawn sword. She put it away, though she inexplicably felt as if she still needed it.

Agent Coulson frowned. “He seemed pretty stable to us.”

“You will find nothing of use from him,” she said. “Do I have your permission to return to my room?”

Agent Coulson blinked. “Of course. Director Fury should be here soon - he’s looking forward to meeting you.”

She didn’t even bother to respond, and she was not chastised for her disrespect. Steve had fallen into step beside her, but he stalled when Agent Coulson spoke again.

“Captain Rogers - my apologies - but if I could have a few words?”

Gamora did not remain to hear what was said.

\----------

She did not return to her room.

If she was caught and confronted she would simply feign being lost. They thought she was Loki’s enemy and so they assumed she was not theirs.

Loki had gone for the Tesseract, so that was where she would look. Barton had said _you don’t want to go in there._ Not that she was forbidden from it. 

If nothing else, she would have her own confirmation of its existence.

She went without interception in her travels. The room that held the Tesseract was cavernous and long. It had been placed towards the end, its light subdued within the clutches of a great machine. The SHIELD scientists were preoccupied with their work and failed to notice her approach. 

The Tesseract itself still appeared dormant, but she could see further marks upon the walls and the ceiling nearest to it - as if it had scorched the stone. 

She stared in awe at the evidence of the second Infinity Stone, and with a growing dread. She’d known the humans would have it. But it should have been locked away in the deepest fortress, hidden where no one could so much as touch it. Instead it was here, out in the open - and if she had wanted, she knew she could have taken it herself.

She started to walk towards it, when a glint of something flashed in the corner of her eye.

Reluctantly, she drew her attention from the Tesseract to observe this new distraction. Resting at the side of the room, behind a large box of a machine, an item pulsed gold upon the floor. 

Frigga’s crystal. It dimmed and brightened in turns.

She looked towards the scientists and guards around her. No one was looking, either her way or towards the light She didn’t know how anyone else hadn’t seen it.

She approached the wall, and found the crystal was intact, its surface free of marks.

She crouched, but did not immediately reach for it. It could be warded against touch. She didn’t want to be hexed for trying to pick it up.

It pulsed gold again, even brighter than before. Like it was calling to her. She reached her hand out, carefully hovering her palm in the air above it, before she lightly tapped it with a finger.

Nothing of note occurred.

She exhaled, once more checking that she was not being watched, then grasped it more firmly, picking it up in her palm. The glow of light within it grew stronger, before it faded and did not return. 

A voice made her jump. “Oh, uh, miss - sorry, didn’t see you there.” One of the scientists was standing over her, engaging with the dials on the machine beside her. “I’m sorry,” he said again, “but this material is - sensitive. If you could please keep back?”

She rose slowly, pocketing the crystal, frowning in confusion as she complied. She had expected something much more than just a simple request for space.

“Thank you,” he said, and then went back to his work.

She narrowed her eyes. “I lost my way,” she said, testing her rapidly forming theory.

“You sure did,” the scientist said, far too jovial. “But hey, if you need help, guest quarters are a few floors up.” He pointed across the room. “Elevator is that way.”

She stared at the man and his genial disposition as he went back to his work, unsettled. Across the room, the Tesseract sat in its cradle, quietly humming.

She was a stranger trespassing on their grounds, in the most secure part of their facility with one of their most precious acquisitions, and no one had so much as requested she leave the room.

Something was going on. 

She did not approach the Tesseract. She turned and went back to her quarters.

\----------

Steve was there by the time she returned, examining a meal that had been delivered to him.

“Something is not right,” she said.

“I’d have to agree with you,” he said, placing the silver lid back over the plate. “Director Fury arrived, but he’s got his hands full questioning Loki.”

She furrowed her brow. “You didn’t stay to watch.”

“I don’t think they’re going to hurt him,” Steve said. “And I wanted to see if you were okay. I was actually about to go looking for you.”

She felt something inside of her soften, but she refused to let it take hold and instead focused on her lingering frustration. “He betrayed us,” she said, voice low. “Are you not infuriated?”

“I got the feeling he was keeping some things back,” Steve said, as resistant to her anger as he had been to Loki’s.

She huffed out a breath, clenching her fists. “Why are you so blinded to his intentions?”

“He doesn’t completely trust us,” Steve said, forehead crinkled. “I’m not happy about it. But he didn’t actually succeed at taking the Tesseract, and no one was hurt. That should make it easier to talk them into letting him go.”

Letting him _go._

Gamora remembered the way the scientist had smiled at her. The way that Loki had smiled at her. 

She did not want him walking free.

Before she could bring her concerns to light, Steve brought up some of his own. “Loki gave me a warning about Agent Barton,” he said.

“What?” Gamora scowled. “When?”

“Around when we arrived. He used his magic so no one else would hear us and told me something about Agent Barton seemed off.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t make out anything that was especially suspicious.”

“That’s assuming there would even be anything suspicious to make out in the first place,” she growled. “He told us that these people would capture and torture us for information before we even met them, and nothing has happened. He told us Asgard would _execute_ him if he returned, and they saved his life.”

And she’d believed him, on both counts. 

The crystal pulsed warmly in her pocket, like it was listening in. She clapped her hand over it instinctively.

“I know,” Steve said, not taking any special note of her odd response. “I’m not surprised he feels that way after everything he went through.” He breathed out through his nose. “We need more intel. The Tesseract is here somewhere, but I don’t think they’re going to let me anywhere near it.”

“I saw it,” Gamora said.

Steve did a double take, then straightened, a wary look coming onto his face. “You saw it.”

“It’s in a large stone room,” she explained. “It is not active at the moment, but Loki was right. They are tampering with it as we speak.” She pressed her palm harder against her pocket. “I have a plan.”

“Let’s hear it,” Steve said.

“You are not going to like it,” she said.

\----------

She went back to the cell late in the evening. Just as before, she was allowed to move freely, without any guards or other personnel so much as delivering a warning look. Neither Agent Coulson nor Barton were in the observation room - instead, there was only a single man with an eye patch, staring intently at the feed into Loki’s cell.

He turned in surprise when she entered - he seemed a bit less than agreeable about her sudden appearance, but not outright antagonistic. “I don’t believe we’ve met yet,” he said, looking her up and down. “I’m Director Fury. I’m assuming you’re Gamora.”

“I am,” she said. She looked towards the screens. Loki was sitting on the platform, and though his face was still mostly blank she thought she could see some strain in his features. “Did he tell you anything of use?”

“Nothing,” Director Fury said, expression lined with frustration. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’s just some space punk who was nosing around where he didn’t belong. But men I trust called out the danger of his actions. So he’ll be staying right there until we’re one hundred percent sure he isn’t going to try to blast us all to hell.”

Gamora swallowed. “I was allowed in to question him earlier. But I was unable to employ my usual tactics at interrogation.”

Director Fury narrowed his eye at her. “Miss Gamora - are you asking for my permission to torture a defenseless prisoner?”

“If it helps your cause,” she said, forcing her voice to steadiness. “And he is not defenseless, trust me. Your men were at least right about that. There are greater dangers coming that will seek to harm your world. You cannot afford not to know his intentions.”

Director Fury stared at her for a long moment. Then he pressed some symbols on a panel before him, and the door to the cell came open. “I believe you,” he said, gesturing towards the cell with his hand palm up. “Be my guest. I’ll keep an eye on things.”

\----------

Loki’s gaze darted up when she entered. This close, she could see that he was indeed much more haggard than he had been earlier that day. She wondered if it was simply the stress of the situation, or if the absence of the crystal’s magic was an additional drain on his health.

Whatever discomfort he felt was not enough to keep the sharp disdain from bleeding over his expression. “I see Captain Rogers is not with you,” he noted, standing up stiffly from the bench. “Is he watching?”

“No,” she answered, bluntly truthful.

“Ah,” he said, shoulders squaring. Though his voice was calm there was a growing tension around his eyes. “I am assuming that means you will have no qualms about holding back.”

The crystal pulsed in her pocket. His eyes drifted down towards its location, lines forming on his brow. 

Before he could do too much to give them away she stalked forward, and his attention immediately drew back up to her face, his body bracing itself as she grabbed him by the front of his shirt and forced him to stumble and collapse back down onto the bench. His useless hands raised instinctively between them.

“This is why Thanos wanted you,” she said, forcing all the loathing into the words that she could manage. “Because he saw the snake within you. Your potential for abandoning anyone who would ever help you.”

“He took you from your world at quite a young age,” Loki said, glaring back in kind. “What, then, did he see in you? Even as a child.”

She grasped at his hand, holding it firmly when he tried to jerk free. “This.” She deftly wrenched one of his gnarled fingers, until it broke along one of the lines of its improper healing. 

Loki’s breath caught at the pain, his cry only just held back behind clamped lips, the heat in his eyes growing to a blaze as he struggled to control himself from reacting. It was a familiar sight, and Gamora could guess just how much it would take for that defiance to begin to splinter.

Which meant that just one would not be enough.

She grabbed the next finger. He tried to pull free from her again in greater earnest, nostrils flaring, but she held him easily.

She broke a second finger. Then a third.

Loki’s breathing was labored and sweat had broken out on his brow. Fear had finally entered his eyes, edging into his rage. He spoke through grinding teeth. “You’re - ah - not going to give me leave to answer any questions?”

His breath went stilted, a strained noise muffled against his lips as she snapped his fourth finger. 

She spoke over his ragged pants. “Not until I’m sure you will be more truthful when I ask them.”

When she reached for his thumb, a faint sound crested in his throat, and he looked all the more furious for its release. “It did not take you long to fall back on your old ways,” he hissed, a growing feral glint to his stare. “You know Rogers will abandon you once he discovers it. He will look at you and know you for your true, violent, morally repugnant self.”

She broke the fifth, just to shut him up, and as he reeled, as a whimper beat against the inside of his throat like the softest drum, she grabbed his other hand.

He breathed in great gulping gasps. He trembled beneath her grip even as his mouth shaped a snarl.

She placed the crystal in his palm.

He flinched, clearly fearing another attack, but when his fingers curled around it as best they could, his eyes widened. 

“Now,” she said, still holding him. “Be _truthful._ ”

His eyes set, though his limbs still shook. “The room is masked,” he intoned, voice frayed by pain. “They will only see you - tormenting a helpless prisoner.”

She took the opportunity to punch him across the face. This time he did cry out. “You speak of Rogers seeking to abandon us but _you_ were the one who ran off at the first chance you were given. And now you are stuck here, urgently trying to tell us something but unable to speak freely because you were stupid enough to lose your mother’s gift.”

Loki licked the blood that beaded at the corner of his lip, shifting awkwardly. He looked as if he was trying to find a comfortable position to hold his broken hand and was not succeeding. “All true,” he admitted.

“So what is your plan,” she demanded, taking a step back from him. “Now that you do not have to speak in riddles any longer.”

He simply breathed for a moment, the crystal’s golden glow shining from his palm. The color was returning to his face.

“My plan,” he repeated. He looked up and grinned at her, pain and madness haunting the depths of his gaze. “I need you to steal the Tesseract.”


End file.
